5 reasons why travelling is good for your health, but not just.

Depending on where you go, how you travel and how open minded you go through this world, travelling can be a soul & health booster in many ways. To be honest : what’s healing your soul, is often also healing your health, and I don’t mean by eating kilos of chocolate every day, but to have some chocolate every now and then, because it’s the balance that makes us healthy or unhealthy. Same goes for travelling. You can go to an All-Inclusive Hotel and feast by mindlessly eating and sipping on dozens of Piña Coladas while toasting yourself in the burning sun or you can go to a country, discover or explore it, get in touch with local people, eat local food, do awesome hikes while being in touch with nature. There are many ways to boost or destroy your health while going on a vacation.

Here are five quick tips how travelling can have a positive impact on your health :

Regain energy

This is a must for all those who are always on the edge, give their all in their daily routines and just have a hard time to relax during their working times. To be honest: this is by far not optimal as you should always take mini-breaks, get enough sleep, take regular breaks and naps during your work days. For those high-fliers that are constantly tired and out of energy, a simple holiday is definitely not the solution but a beginning and should make you think and work on improving your energy balance within your weekly routine. Nevertheless, if you travel right, or as I described above, you can get a great energy boost out from your vacation. Whenever I return home from foreign places, I have an incredible energy boost. The challenge here is to not „kill“ your regained energy again once you‘re back. In the past I usually overdid it and then fell back into old patterns. And I think this is the biggest downside of having too much energy after your holidays: You think you can go all-in again and in the end you find yourself at the same place as before. So, be careful how much energy you give and try to go slower in pace.

Reset your brain

Travelling to other countries and getting out of your comfort zone is always a great thing. In earlier days I usually travelled to more “westernised” countries but now I see more benefits by travelling to places where not everything is so „perfect“ as in Switzerland or any other western countries. By this, you definitely also expand your horizons because you get in touch with more challanges, may it be another language, different foods, different cultural habits etc. You only grow in life by leaving your comfort zone and I find it more and more attractive by doing so. Sitting and being around in your comfort zone gets boring and will never challenge you. But your brain and also your body need new challenges and therefore I highly suggest to travel as well to places where you might not want to go at first place.

Boost your immune system

This one depends of course of where you go and what you do. Sitting around and undergoing a 24/7 feast in an all inclusive resort doesn’t do you really good unless you are terribly stressed all year long, then this might help you a bit but definitely isn’t a solution. Walk, sleep, be active, eat balanced and also don’t forget about the ice creme in between. Swim in the ocean, talk in other languages to strangers, do things you usually don’t do. And definitely go to places where the sun is shinn. I cannot stop talking about getting enough Vitamin D dosages. In a place where winter is present for half a year like Switzerland and the sun is not omnipresent, I always yearn for warmth and sun. To get enough Vitamin D you need daily 10 minute full body sunshine, without putting any sunblocker on your skin. Do you have this here in Switzerland? I doubt it. How important Vitamin D is for your immune system has been documented very well over the last years.

Look better naked

This has to do with reduced stress/cortisol levels. I usually loose circumference around my belly and look leaner even though I definitely eat more sweets in my holidays. Of course it‘s also because I consume a bit less total calories but also sleep more and better. My experience and those of my clients show me, that especially the more you are stressed during your daily work routine, which means constant elevated cortisol levels, the better your holidays will be for your look. And again: I don’t mean hanging in the deck-chair and drinking beer and whiskey. Move, move more than usual, explore nature, especially the colour green will take of stress of your nervous system, breathe deeply not superficially like you usually do while working, and you will see the difference after 2-3 weeks of travelling.

Broaden your horizon

This one is one of my favorites, unless you always travel to the same places, meet the same faces and don’t do anything new or/and challenging. If you go out with an open mind and also with a positive attitude, you are going to learn many new things on your „journeys“. By travelling « this » way, you will be able to create great memories and feel like time isn’t passing very quickly. This is something I realized during our last trip to Costa Rica: we were hiking, exploring, discovering, seeing and experiencing so many different places, that time passed relatively slow and after two weeks I felt like I have been away for more than just two weeks, which is awesome. Since I have seen or been to many different countries and have experienced all kinds of travel, I can definitely tell that variety in landscapes, locations and experiences, will have a huge and positive impact on your horizon and how you look at things and the world. To me, there isn’t anything like travelling, meeting new people, eating different foods and get to know other cultures. This is something I will always be grateful for to my parents because it was them introducing me into the world of travel at a very young age.

In the end travelling is the only thing money can buy that makes you richer.

And for those who always moan about that they cannot afford it. It‘s like with Coaching/Personal Training, where I also sometimes hear it: it‘s all a matter of your priorities in life. Either way you are right, no matter what you think. If you moan about it, change your attitude and do something about it. In the end, money doesn’t follow you to the grave. It‘s the experiences in life that build your happiness and character not the amount of money on your bank account.

As a Fitness Professional and Personal Trainer in Zürich, I am specialised in helping entrepreneurs and people in management positions to build lean, muscular and powerful bodies through optimal and individually adjusted training, diet and hormone control. I look at things holistically and if you think, you want to change something in your life and finally bring your body & mind to a whole other level, then book your free 30 minute consultation now. In this free consultation we check on your current situation.